Most digital cameras today are similar in size to and behave like conventional point-and-shoot cameras. Unlike conventional cameras, however, most digital cameras store digital images in an internal flash memory or on external memory cards, and some are equipped with a liquid-crystal display (LCD) screen on the back of the camera. Through the use of the LCD, most digital cameras operate in two modes, record and play, although some only have a record mode. In record mode, the LCD is used as a viewfinder in which the user may view an object or scene before taking a picture. In play mode, the LCD is used as a playback screen for allowing the user to review previously captured images either individually or in arrays of four, nine, or sixteen images.
Digital cameras can typically be coupled with a peripheral display, such as a television set or a computer display. In this manner, the user may view the various images stored within the digital camera on a larger display. However, even when the peripheral display is connected to the digital camera, the same low resolution and same format of the digital camera is shown on the peripheral display. Thus, despite the larger size of the peripheral display, the quality of the images are not improved by viewing the peripheral display and the user may still need to scroll through a large number of images before finding the desired image.
What is needed is a system and method for automatically taking advantage of the larger size and higher resolution of peripheral display devices. The present invention addresses such a need.